JT Schmid's at The District at Tustin Legacy

JT Schmid's Tustin
2415 Park Avenue
Tustin, CA
714-258-0333

JT Schmid's Anaheim Location
2610 East Katella Blvd.
Anaheim, CA
Across from The Honda Center
714-634-9200

http://www.jtschmids.com/

The shiny new mega mall, The District at Tustin Legacy, is almost fully complete now. Large box discount stores are mixed with, fast food, casual restaurants, fine dining restaurants, a movie theater and even a brewery. I visited JT Schmid's brewery for the second time last night. I really want to love this place. I love the location, the vibe of the new mall, the modern look with all the colorful lights, the casual atmosphere of a dimly lit restaurant/brewery. I really want to love this place.....but well, I just don't.

My first experience at this place was just ok. Average food, average service. I just wasn't feeling it though. I've heard good things about this place. I know brekkie_fan seems to like it (Orange County Food Blogs: JT Schmid's - Tustin) So I decided to give this place another try.

My second visit to this place would rank as a "poor" for me. First and foremost, our server did not seem to enjoy his job. I would describe his personality as "surly" at best. I never even once saw him attempt to smile, and he seemed to be annoyed that he even had to wait on us in the first place.

While we were looking over the menus, my wife was commenting on how she thought she might get the vegetables in coconut curry. My wife loves coconut curry, but she also likes it spicy. She was wondering if this one was spicy at all. The waiter passed by the table, so I said to him, "Excuse me, is the coconut curry spicy?" He responded, "Um. It's a little spicy". I asked, "Do you know if the kitchen can make it extra spicy?" He gave me a blank stare and said, "I can bring you Tabasco". Somehow I don't think the flavor of coconut curry would go well with Tabasco. I told him "thank you" and continued to look over the menu.

After looking over the menu for a while, I decided to get a cup of chili ($3.00) and a cheeseburger ($11.00 with my two extra toppings). I ordered my cheeseburger medium rare, and told the waiter, "No tomatoes, no lettuce, and no pickles. I just want cheddar cheese, bleu cheese, bacon and onions." He said ok as if he understood.

My cup of chili arrived and I eagerly dove in. The chili was mildly spicy. It wasn't too spicy for me, but if you can't "do spicy", then it probably would be too spicy for you. The chili was ok, but it had this flavor that I just didn't like. I couldn't put my finger on what it was exactly. I think it may have been some kind of green chile that I didn't really care for.

Our entrees arrived and I received a burger with bleu cheese, onions and tomatoes on it. The food was not delivered by our waiter, but rather a food runner. I told the food runner that the burger was not how I ordered it. I told him that it wasn't supposed to have tomato, and it was supposed to have cheddar cheese and bacon on it. Then I repeated myself for good measure, "So it's supposed to be medium rare, cheddar, bleu cheese, bacon and onions only". He was friendly and apologetic. He took it away with a smile and told me he'd have the kitchen fix it. A few minutes later, the burger arrived back at the table. It was almost correct this time, but it still had tomato on it. Not a big deal. I just took it off.

I then took a bite of my burger. It tasted incredibly charred. I cut the burger in half and it was way over well done. I flagged down the waiter and told him that the burger was way overcooked. I told him that I didn't want to wait for another one though, so I was just going to eat this one. Maybe I should have insisted on another burger. The burger was charred on the outside and tasteless and dry on the inside. The waiter must have told the manager about my burger, because he stopped by to apologize for the burger. He took one look at it and agreed that the kitchen had indeed way overcooked it. He apologized and told me that it would be removed from our bill. The fries served with my burger were the high point of my meal. Fresh, salty and crispy. Just the way I like them.

My wife ordered the roasted garlic and potato pizza ($10.95). The other couple we were with ordered the buffalo burger ($10.95-not pictured), the sauteed rainbow trout ($16.95) and a side of asparagus ($4.95). The trout dish ended up coming with asparagus on the plate as well. Had she known, she would not have ordered the extra side of asparagus. I think the waiter should have told her that her meal already came with asparagus when she ordered the side.

My wife at first rated the pizza as "ok". After she added a liberal dose of salt though, she upgraded her opinion to "pretty good". The person that ordered the rainbow trout enjoyed it and she said that she would order it again. The one that ordered the buffalo burger said, "It was just like a bland burger. I would have rather had a cheeseburger from McDonalds."

Overall I would say that the food here ranges from bad to average. Although the management here seems to be attentive to customer complaints, I would also say the service here is pretty bad. Our waiter seemed unfriendly at best and everyone in my party noticed it right away. Also, throughout our entire dinner, no one ever refilled our water glasses. The glasses sat empty and our thirst remained unquenched. I would have requested more water, but I didn't see our waiter that often.